Exodus 17:12

_BUT MOSES' HANDS WERE HEAVY; AND THEY TOOK A STONE, AND PUT IT UNDER HIM, AND HE SAT THEREON; AND AARON AND HUR STAYED UP HIS HANDS, THE ONE ON THE ONE SIDE, AND THE OTHER ON THE OTHER SIDE; AND HIS HANDS WERE STEADY UNTIL THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

8-16 Israel engaged with Amalek in their own necessary defence. God makes his people able, and calls them to various services for the good of his church. Joshua fights, Moses prays, both minister to Israel. The rod was held up, as the banner to encourage the soldiers. Also to God, by way of appeal to him. Moses was tired. The strongest arm will fail with being long held out; it is God only whose hand is stretched out still. We do not find that Joshua's hands were heavy in fighting, but Moses' hands were heavy in praying; the more spiritual any service is, the more apt we are to fail and flag in it. To convince Israel that the hand of Moses, whom they had been chiding, did more for their safety than their own hands, his rod than their sword, the success rises and falls as Moses lifts up or lets down his hands. The church's cause is more or less successful, as her friends are more or less...

UNTIL THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN - The length of this first great battle indicates the strength and obstinacy of the assailants. It was no mere raid of Bedouins, but a deliberate attack of the Amalekites, who had been probably thoroughly trained in warfare by their struggles with Egypt....

EXPOSITION THE WAR WITH AMALEK. The Amalekites seem to have been descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:12). They separated themselves off from the other Edomites at an early date, and became the predominant tribe in the more northern parts of the Sinaitic peninsula, claiming and exercising a sovereignty over the whole of the desert country between the borders of Palestine and Egypt. We do not find the name Amalek in the Egyptian records; but the people are probably represented by the Mentu, with whom so many of the early Egyptian kings contended. The Pharaohs dispossessed them of the north-western portion of the mountain region; but they probably claimed the suzerainty of the central hills and valleys, which the Egyptians never occupied; and on these they no doubt set a high value as afford

BUT MOSES'S HANDS WERE HEAVY,.... And hung down through weariness, holding up the rod first in one hand, and then in another, for so long a time; and thus sometimes, through infirmity, the best of men grow remiss in prayer, their hands are weak and hang flown through the corruptions of their hearts, the power of unbelief, the temptations of Satan, and want of immediate answers of prayer, or through long delays of it, and then the enemy gets an advantage over them: AND THEY TOOK A STONE, AND PUT IT UNDER HIM, AND HE SAT THEREON; so that it seems not only that his hands were heavy, but he could not well stand on his feet any longer, being a corpulent man as well as in years, as Ben Gersom suggests; and therefore Aaron and Hur took a stone that lay on the mount for him to sit upon, where he might be raised as high, and be as well seen, as standing: this stone may be an emblem of Christ the...

CHAPTER 17 AT REPHIDIM _ 1. The water from the rock (Exodus 17:1)_ 2. The conflict with Amalek (Exodus 17:8) From Sin they went to Dophkah and Alush before they came to Rephidim (Numbers 33:12). Again there was no water and Moses feared they might stone him. Without following the historical record we point out some of the most interesting lessons of the two events at Rephidim. The Rock is a type of Christ. Jehovah stood upon the rock to be smitten, even as “God was in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The smiting by the rod, used in judgment upon the river of Egypt, is the type of the death of Christ. There

EXODUS 27. WATER FROM THE ROCK (Exodus 17 :1 P (Rephidim), Exodus 17:1 b - Exodus 17:2 a (strove, strive) E, Exodus 17:3 and Exodus 17:2 b (tempt) J, Exodus 17:4 E, Exodus 17:5 a (people) J, Exodus 17:5 bd (and go) E, Exodus 17:5 c, Exodus 17:6 a J,...

HEAVY. weary....

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 17 And all the congregation of the children of Is-ra-el journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to the commandment of Je-ho-vah, and encamped in Reph-i-dim: and there was no water for the people to drink. (2) Wherefore the people strove with Mo-ses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Mo-ses said unto them, Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt Je-ho-vah? (3) And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Mo-ses, and said, Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of E-gypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? (4) And Mo-ses cried unto Je-ho-vah, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me. (5) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Is-ra-el; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the riv...

REPHIDIM. MURMURING FOR WATER. OPPOSITION OF AMALEK Leaving the maritime plain the Israelites now strike inland, and after halting at Dophkah and Alush (see Numbers 33:12) they come to Rephidim. This is usually identified with the modern Wady Feiran, lying about 20 m. N. of Sinai. It is one of the oases of the peninsula, very fertile and usually well watered. On this occasion the brook was dry....